A new dossier of mobile phone calls is believed to contain numbers that have yet to be identified - and officers hope they could provide vital new leads

Detectives are examining mobile phone information they believe could hold the key to Madeleine McCann’s disappearance.

Portuguese authorities are thought to have provided Scotland Yard with a list of calls made in and around the Ocean Club in Praia de Luz between 9pm and 10pm on May 3 2007 – the night the three-year-old vanished.

The dossier is believed to contain phone numbers that have yet to be identified, and officers hope they could provide vital new leads.

Detectives hope to track down the registered owner of each phone, and check whether any are known sex offenders.

The information was sent to the Met in response to an “international letter of request” asking for assistance from foreign police forces in 31 countries.

The requests are believed to relate to unidentified mobile phone numbers and it is the first time they have been analysed in detail. The Met are preparing to send another letter of request soon, sources said.

Detectives and Crown Prosecution Service lawyers are believed to have prepared a string of ILORs but remain hopeful that a joint probe can be established, rendering them unnecessary.

If an arrangement cannot be reached then it is feared the British investigation could drag on for years and end up costing at least double the £5million already spent.

Portuguese police revealed in October that their investigation was being restarted as a result of new lines of inquiry emerging from their own internal review.

They had originally shelved their probe in 2008, the year after Madeleine vanished, but supported the British-run inquiry.

Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood, the officer spearheading the probe, revealed in October that the records could hold the key.

He said the analysis was a “targeted attack on that data to see whether it can assist us”.

He added: “We’ve got a data set of phone traffic. Within that phone traffic, you can see we’ve got some of those numbers we can attribute to people, but a large number of them we can’t ...

"A lot of the focus is not necessarily to find a suspect, but also witnesses. We’re trying to understand who was there for a range of reasons.”

Portuguese police have always had the phone records but they have never been examined in such detail.

The Met is now examining 41 persons of interest, including 15 UK nationals.

A Met police spokesman said: “We are not giving a running commentary. However we will issue details of any new ILOR issued to the Portuguese authorities.”

Snaily Mirror oozing along miles behind everyone else again.Pettifor? Sounds like one of Mr Kipling's French Fancies. A pink one, of course.

And if we're looking for a splash of pink in the article ...

Detectives and Crown Prosecution Service lawyers are believed to have prepared a string of ILORs but remain hopeful that a joint probe can be established, rendering them unnecessary.

If an arrangement cannot be reached then it is feared the British investigation could drag on for years and end up costing at least double the £5million already spent.

Which roughly translated means:

By stating this we aim to rile up all you taxpayers out there by insinuating that you'll have to shell out even more dosh. And then maybe you'll protest and the investigation will be halted.And by suggesting that the investigation could drag on for years to come, we're hoping that all the truth seekers will get fed up and abandon their cause.

I think Redwood is miffed because OPORTO won't share what information they have , but I do wonder whether they have anything which differs from Redwood and is NEW. Time they filed their Report to the Judiciary , the Portugese have spent enough on the McCanns and I was hoping the Portugese Police were working on their own because they are fed up with this case and want to show that they can come out with better information than SY who are clutching at straws.

interested wrote:"A lot of the focus is not necessarily to find a suspect......" Well, what exactly is the focus?

To show the world that whatever harm befell Madeleine, the McCanns could not be held responsible...

I think this is the purpose of the investigation, it appears to me that strings are being pulled at a higher level however we can but hope that the PJ are intent on getting to the truth. They did state that new evidence was required to re-open the case and nobody knows what this evidence is, that may include SY.

Apart from the SY claim that they had found 38 persons of interest to find from two or three Countries, it was only when OPORTO made the request that the PJ agreed. It's now up to OPORTO to pass their Report on to the PJ since it doesn't look as if they are working with SY.

Panda wrote:Apart from the SY claim that they had found 38 persons of interest to find from two or three Countries, it was only when OPORTO made the request that the PJ agreed. It's now up to OPORTO to pass their Report on to the PJ since it doesn't look as if they are working with SY.

interested wrote:"A lot of the focus is not necessarily to find a suspect......" Well, what exactly is the focus?

To find witnesses.

I think that is a great idea. Witnesses can witness any number of things and unlike Smith, who was visited early on and bullied by Kennedy's men and Control Risk or whomever, they can be directly in contact with the met. They will not have a chance to be put through the family's filter nor will Clarence or anyone have a chance to know ahead of time what they will say and how to spin it. A main reason for the Fund and the PR campaign was so that they could control what the media got and how that was presented. With witnesses going directly to the cops we may never hear what they said but at least the police will hear, it won't end up in a basement file that the Fund has to give permission for the cops to even look at.

Panda wrote:Apart from the SY claim that they had found 38 persons of interest to find from two or three Countries, it was only when OPORTO made the request that the PJ agreed. It's now up to OPORTO to pass their Report on to the PJ since it doesn't look as if they are working with SY.

Are we likely to be told how many of these '38 persons of interests' are either;

1. Dead.2. In Nursing Homes or Residential Care and have been for the past 10 years or more.3. Already excluded by previous investigations.4. Covered up by previous investigators.

In fact will we be told just what nearly £6 million of public funding has found that has not already been announced or covered up by Mitchell?

Panda wrote:Apart from the SY claim that they had found 38 persons of interest to find from two or three Countries, it was only when OPORTO made the request that the PJ agreed. It's now up to OPORTO to pass their Report on to the PJ since it doesn't look as if they are working with SY.

Are we likely to be told how many of these '38 persons of interests' are either;

1. Dead.2. In Nursing Homes or Residential Care and have been for the past 10 years or more.3. Already excluded by previous investigations.4. Covered up by previous investigators.

In fact will we be told just what nearly £6 million of public funding has found that has not already been announced or covered up by Mitchell?

malena , as I said, it's time for the information OPORTO have which prompted the AG to give permission for the case to be re-opened to be acted upon. The Portugese Police must be pleased that their handling of the case, apart from being a bit too lenient with the McCanns, has proved competent.